Best Buy Forbids You From Buying Assassin's Creed

thatmariolover · 01-14-2008, 07:10 PM

There is no legal enforcement of the ESRB's rating system (even though I believe there should be). Right now all enforcement is up to the store selling the game. As companies I know GameStop, Best Buy, and Walmart are all sticklers on a corporate level.

On top of that, video games are like movies, not cigarettes. If you think they're mature enough to watch/play it, then so be it.

Regardless, the gal obviously had a frustrating time and I sympathize. But I do think she probably embellished the tale a bit.

Yoda9864 · 01-14-2008, 07:33 PM

While I agree that BB could've handled it a lot better, I think that they did the right thing about not selling the game.

I used to work at a gas station and it would be the same if the little brother handed him money and then he asks for cigarettes. There's no way I would've sold them the cigs. Yes, it may have been his money to start with, but it looks awfully bad when his little brother hands it to him.

I would bet $100 that it wouldn't've gone down like that if he had the gift cards in his own wallet and handed them to the cashier directly.

Sorry, but sometimes you just have to think ahead.

Typhoid · 01-14-2008, 08:06 PM

Yeah, and what about those parents that take their 3 year olds into the liquor store with them because they don't want to leave them alone in the car! They're all buying the booze for their kids to get them drunk and have their cantankerous ways with them! It's so diabolical and non-sensical that it must be true.

It's shit like this that disturbs me terribly. Like someone said, they're not smokes, and it's not booze. Who are you to enforce a make-believe rule on someone else? Maybe his brother is really mature for a 15 year old. Maybe the game could have been for him?

I would have made a gigantic scene if that was me, to be honest with you. Because I find things like that ridiculous. If someone with a "minor" (to do with a movie or game) is renting/buying said game/movie, it is of nobody elses business of the reasoning, who it is for, or anything else.

Yoda9864 · 01-14-2008, 08:47 PM

Yes, it isn't cigarettes and it isn't against the law. But it is store policy and to many stores, that is as good as law.

I still stand by my opinion that people need to avoid these situations by thinking ahead.

Typhoid · 01-14-2008, 09:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yoda9864

Yes, it isn't cigarettes and it isn't against the law. But it is store policy and to many stores, that is as good as law.

I still stand by my opinion that people need to avoid these situations by thinking ahead.

Store policy that someone of-age can't buy something they want just because they are accompanied by a minor?

I can see where they're coming from. But there's a difference between being skeptical of someone's motives, and being a flat-out unreasonable douche.

Yoda9864 · 01-14-2008, 11:57 PM

Whatever, Best Buy is an evil corporation anyway.

KillerGremlin · 01-15-2008, 02:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yoda9864

But it is store policy and to many stores, that is as good as law.

If my dad and I were shopping at Best Buy, and he was 21+ and I was young, and he was buying me an M-rated game and the store refused to sell it to him, you might be able to file a complaint under similar circumstances as discrimination because my dad is able to consent for me.

The store has a right to deny the sale to a minor, and technically they can deny the right to sell the game to anyone. They could choose not to sell games to black people one day. But that's just bad publicity.

Although Best Buy still is thriving and they have tons of bad publicity....

I agree with thatmariolover...this whole story does seem embellished. It probably wouldn't have taken much to talk this over with the manager, especially if there was a long line. I worked in retail for a year and a half and the goal is usually to make the customer happy. Still, Best Buy is a cesspool of corporate evil, so it's easy to take sides.

thatmariolover · 01-15-2008, 08:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KillerGremlin

If my dad and I were shopping at Best Buy, and he was 21+ and I was young, and he was buying me an M-rated game and the store refused to sell it to him, you might be able to file a complaint under similar circumstances as discrimination because my dad is able to consent for me.

The store has a right to deny the sale to a minor, and technically they can deny the right to sell the game to anyone. They could choose not to sell games to black people one day. But that's just bad publicity.

Although Best Buy still is thriving and they have tons of bad publicity....

I agree with thatmariolover...this whole story does seem embellished. It probably wouldn't have taken much to talk this over with the manager, especially if there was a long line. I worked in retail for a year and a half and the goal is usually to make the customer happy. Still, Best Buy is a cesspool of corporate evil, so it's easy to take sides.

On the other hand, if the game was something like Manhunt and you were buying it for your kid (under age 13) I would try to slap your ass with a lawsuit if I had any proof.

This is such a great topic for debate. I really wish politicians would educate themselves and get involved in the discussion

Bond · 01-15-2008, 09:34 AM

Well... if Best Buy wants to abid by the ESRB reccomendations they are allowed to, but I think the issue here is Best Buy's selective enforcement of that policy. Best Buy is corporately owned, so it's not as if there are individual owners of each store, so a company wide policy on the sale of videogames should be enforced - not a different policy at each store. I mean, that is the point of chains, so that you know what to expect at one wherever you are.

This story may have been embellished, but I think it makes a point of a larger issue of those who work in sales jobs. They're young, or old, have little to no training in what they're doing, and really shouldn't be doing that job. Whenever I go to Best Buy, I spend more time trying to avoid the people there to "help me" than doing anything else. Of course, I am generalizing, and there are wonderful exceptions.

Typhoid · 01-15-2008, 03:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thatmariolover

On the other hand, if the game was something like Manhunt and you were buying it for your kid (under age 13) I would try to slap your ass with a lawsuit if I had any proof.

This is such a great topic for debate. I really wish politicians would educate themselves and get involved in the discussion

The fun thing about discretion though, is that it's disctretional. If I want to buy Manhunt for my 13 year old because I know he knows it's just a game, and isn't stupid enough to confuse fantasy with reality and go out and try kill people with chainsaws, much like he didn't want to throw someone out of an Airlock after seeing various space movies - Who is anyone to deny me the fact that I think my son can handle a game/movie like that?

GameMaster · 01-15-2008, 12:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Typhoid

I would have made a gigantic scene if that was me, to be honest with you. Because I find things like that ridiculous. If someone with a "minor" (to do with a movie or game) is renting/buying said game/movie, it is of nobody elses business of the reasoning, who it is for, or anything else.

I would have mad a scene too. That story really makes Best Buy out to be giant a-holes. And isn't the first 'horror' story I've heard about Best Buy.

Which is a shame, because they have a pretty good selection of merchandise but the company itself and its prices are shitty.

KillerGremlin · 01-15-2008, 02:30 AM

A movie theater analogy is more appropriate than a cigarette analogy...

What strikes me as interesting is 21 is the legal age for parental consent. So, if I was 21 and my brother was with me I could legally vouch for him as a parent. If you are under 17 and you would like to see an R-rated movie you need to be accompanied by an adult, and said definition of an adult is 21. At least here in Illinois.

I don't think the ESRB should be enforced by law. I think parents should start doing some damn parenting, because that's the underlying problem. I was playing Doom when I was 7, Duke Nukem when I was 9 and I'm fine. I really don't think the government has any business policing the entertainment industry, and I would like it to stay that way.

Anyway, Best Buy is a horrible horrible place to shop. I refuse to shop there unless there is some amazing sale. I know a few people that work at Best Buy, it's a shady business.